Chapter 424 – Which Race Is Best

Chapter 424 – Which Race Is Best

After Sylph said this, Lilith grew worried too:

“That’s right! Moira, in human storybooks, it’s always either a kind commoner girl falling in love at first sight with a noble mage prodigy, or a highborn princess being moved by a sincere farmer’s son. They’re always preaching that the power of love conquers all.

But in reality? Only human girls who’ve been fooled stupid by those storybooks actually believe in such beautiful love stories.

Having no ability to extract yourself from a romantic relationship, yet fantasizing that someone will love you unconditionally—it’s as risky as gambling on pulling a good card from the card pool.

Look at how many males court us witches, yet how many of them actually dare to sign a Wilds Covenant?

Anyone can talk about love. Only those who stake their lives on it and sign a Wilds Covenant truly count! Even among the generally loyal Elves and Merfolk, the occasional fickle mutant still pops up! Let alone humans, who are fickle by nature.”

“If you ask me, undead servants and magical familiars are the safest bet. Raised by your own hand—can’t go wrong! As for other races, have your fun while you’re young, but don’t take it seriously!” Vasida said.

“Easy for you to say, but have you actually read any of those reproduction books? Do you even know how to ‘have fun’? ‘Have your fun’?” Lilith gave her a sidelong glance.

“My mama told me all about it!” Vasida said.

“Well, my mama says Elves are best! And if you don’t fancy Elves, Merfolk work too. Then sign a Wilds Covenant on top of that, and it’s foolproof,” Sylph said.

Vasida: “Undead servants are best!”

Sylph: “Elves are best!”

…

“Alright, alright, you two can each do as you please!” Lilith waved her hand dismissively and turned to Mo Lan. “The important one here is you! Remember this well—if they won’t sign a Wilds Covenant, it’s not true love!”

Mo Lan, who had ended up being lectured instead, was now thoroughly reassured about her little companions.

They might be completely clueless about the facts of life, but they were plenty shrewd—especially when it came to other races.

It made sense, really. Young witches’ education had long since diverged from that of humans.

How could young witches, steeped in the ideals of freedom and independence, possibly believe in human stories of love-above-all and entrust their lives and fortunes to some male they met along the way?

Mo Lan thought back on the witch storybooks she had read. They only ever featured witches being deceived by males of other races, then whipping out their Wands and blasting the scoundrels to pulp. Never once was there a witch so lovesick she let her life fall apart.

With that settled, Mo Lan no longer worried about her companions being taken in. The matter of teaching them about the facts of life could wait:

“Let’s shelve the campsite preparations for now. As for the facts of life, I’ll explain things to you all slowly when there’s time. For now, why don’t you each transcribe a few of the more classic reproduction books? Read them when you have a chance, and we can all discuss them together.”

As long as they approached love rationally, with the physical constitution witches possessed during the reproductive process, they could do whatever they pleased. Learning about these things wouldn’t do any harm.

“Me first, me first!” Vasida responded eagerly. “I haven’t even seen that 《Anatomical Appreciation Atlases》 you all mentioned! If I don’t read it soon, I won’t be able to keep up with your conversations.”

“I only transcribed the volume on Elves and Merfolk. I didn’t copy down the others. If everyone’s going to read them, I suppose I’ll transcribe a copy of each too!” Sylph added.

Mo Lan handed them the Grimoire to transcribe from, then looked at Lilith. “You probably don’t need to, right? You must have transcribed everything ages ago?”

“Of course! You’ve read them all too, right?” Lilith said. “So which race do you actually think has the best-looking body?”

This time Mo Lan gave it serious thought before answering: “Based on my aesthetic preferences—I like the face of an Elf, the upper body of a Merfolk, the waist and hips of a Demon, the legs of an Angel, and the soul of a witch…”

“You really know how to pick! Elves have the most refined faces, Merfolk upper bodies have beautiful muscles without being overdone, Demons have an absolutely perfect wide-waist-to-narrow-hip ratio, and Angels have long, powerful legs that aren’t scrawny. If you combined all of those together, it would be absolutely exquisite!”

Lilith pictured it in her mind and couldn’t help licking her fangs.

“Naturally!” Mo Lan said. “I’m someone with memories of a past life, after all. My aesthetic sensibilities are impeccable!”

“But what’s this about a witch’s soul?” Lilith asked.

“My mama used to say ‘ugly souls are a dime a dozen; beautiful appearances are one in a million.’ I think that saying should be flipped: ‘Beautiful appearances are a dime a dozen; beautiful souls are one in a million.’ No matter how good-looking someone is on the outside, if their soul is hideous, it’s unacceptable,” Mo Lan said.

“The brave, unyielding, resilient, and kind soul of a witch is virtually impossible to find in a male of another race!” Lilith said.

“Which is why it’s virtually impossible that I’ll ever bother looking for a partner,” Mo Lan said indifferently.

“Moira, if you value what’s inside more, the soul quality of Elves and Merfolk is actually quite high. Even without a covenant, Elves and Merfolk who betray their lovers are extremely rare,” Sylph said.

Mo Lan shook her head. “Elves and Merfolk may be highly loyal to their lovers, but their loyalty to their own kind is rather mediocre!

Otherwise, the Elven Woods wouldn’t have fallen into civil war, and the Elves wouldn’t have split into two factions, with one going off to follow the half-Elf lord.

It’s the same with the Merfolk—far too many hopeless romantics among them. It doesn’t make them look terribly bright.”

“Then raise an undead servant!” Vasida said. “Just like my mama—raise an undead zombie into a Corpse Clan member. You could totally use an Elf’s head, a Merfolk’s upper body, a Demon’s waist and hips, and an Angel’s legs to build the undead servant’s body. Once it metamorphoses into a Corpse Clan member and develops a soul, that soul will have been personally cultivated by you and will perfectly match your needs.

The only tricky part is that the corpse materials you mentioned are a bit hard to come by. But you have the Book of Cards! Collect a bit of each type of corpse material, and you can create unlimited material cards. It’s totally feasible!”

“Absolutely not! A Demon’s dark waist and hips stitched together with Merfolk and Angel body parts—how could that possibly look good?”

Mo Lan shook her head.

“Besides, a Corpse Clan undead servant that develops a soul can only be called absolutely loyal. But the quality of that soul, the cultivation of its personality—that’s not like Magic where you can aim and fire at will! What if you raise it wrong? How could you possibly like it then!”

Vasida hugged the books she had just finished transcribing, looked up the body structure diagrams for Demons, Angels, and Merfolk, then imagined what they would look like stitched together using corpse-sewing techniques. She let out a disgusted “Ugh!”

“Better not mix and match corpses willy-nilly. Different races have physical size barriers between them just to begin with—it’s terrifying just thinking about it!”

“Right?!” When Mo Lan had read the 《Anatomical Appreciation Atlases》, she had felt the same way—this one fell a bit short here, that one fell a bit short there.

“Well then, a partner like that really would be hard to find!” Lilith said.

“It’s not like I absolutely must have one,” Mo Lan said carelessly. “Honestly, I’d rather just go read a few magic books!”